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MiddleDrag VS React Complex Tree

Compare MiddleDrag VS React Complex Tree and see what are their differences

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MiddleDrag logo MiddleDrag

Unlock the hidden power of your trackpad on macOS. Three-finger tap to middle-click, three-finger drag to pan/orbit.

React Complex Tree logo React Complex Tree

Unopinionated accessible tree component with drag and drop
  • MiddleDrag MiddleDrag UI
    MiddleDrag UI //
    2026-01-22
  • MiddleDrag MiddleDrag Advanced Menu
    MiddleDrag Advanced Menu //
    2026-01-22

MiddleDrag: Three-finger trackpad gestures for middle-click and middle-drag on macOS. Mac trackpads don't have a middle mouse button. Many apps expect one. MiddleDrag fixes this. How it works:

Three-finger tap โ†’ Middle-click Three-finger drag โ†’ Middle-drag (pan/orbit)

Use cases:

Browsers: Open links in new background tabs, close tabs with a click, open bookmarks in new tabs. 3D & CAD Software: Orbit and pan viewports in Blender, Fusion 360, FreeCAD, SketchUp, Maya, OnShape. Essential for apps with broken or missing trackpad support.

Design Tools: Pan canvas in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator. Navigate large documents in PDF viewers.

Development: Close editor tabs in VS Code and IDEs. Middle-click paste in terminals. Why MiddleDrag?

Existing solutions are either paid (BetterTouchTool $10-24, Middle $8), abandoned (MagicPrefs stopped working years ago), or require terminal configuration (MiddleClick has no GUI).

MiddleDrag is free, open-source (MIT), and actively maintained. Native menu bar app with GUI settings โ€” no terminal required. Key features:

Works alongside Mission Control and other system gestures Configurable sensitivity and smoothing Launch at login support Requires only Accessibility permissions

Technical approach: Uses Apple's MultitouchSupport framework to read raw touch data, allowing three-finger gestures to generate middle-mouse events while leaving system gestures intact. Backs off automatically when four or more fingers are detected.

Install via Homebrew: brew tap nullpointerdepressivedisorder/tap brew install --cask middledrag

Also available via MacPorts.

macOS 15.0+ required. Works with built-in MacBook trackpads and Magic Trackpads.

  • React Complex Tree Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-14

MiddleDrag

$ Details
Platforms
MacOS Mac
Release Date
2025 November

MiddleDrag features and specs

  • Three-finger tap
    Tap with three fingers to trigger a middle mouse click
  • Three-finger drag
    Drag with three fingers to perform middle-drag for panning and orbiting
  • System gesture compatibility
    Works alongside Mission Control, Exposรฉ, and other macOS gestures
  • Drag sensitivity
    Adjustable cursor speed during drag operations
  • Homebrew installation
    brew install --cask middledrag via custom tap
  • MacPorts installation
    sudo port install MiddleDrag
  • Lightweight Resource usage
    Minimal CPU and memory footprint

React Complex Tree features and specs

  • Customizability
    React Complex Tree offers a high degree of customizability, allowing developers to tailor the tree component to fit their specific needs. This can be especially useful for creating unique UI experiences.
  • Feature-Rich
    The library includes a wide range of features out of the box such as drag-and-drop support, keyboard navigation, and dynamic data loading, which can save development time.
  • Accessibility Support
    React Complex Tree is designed with accessibility in mind, providing support for ARIA attributes and keyboard interactions, which helps ensure that applications are usable by people with disabilities.
  • Performance
    The component is optimized for performance, handling large data sets efficiently without significant slowdowns, which is critical for applications that manage extensive hierarchical structures.
  • Community and Documentation
    The library has a supportive community and well-structured documentation, providing developers with ample resources to troubleshoot and extend its functionality.

Possible disadvantages of React Complex Tree

  • Complexity
    Due to its extensive features and customizability, React Complex Tree can be complex to set up and configure properly, which may lead to a steeper learning curve for new users.
  • Bundle Size
    As a feature-rich component, React Complex Tree can increase your bundle size, which might be a concern for projects where performance and loading time are critical.
  • Third-Party Dependency
    Relying on a third-party library introduces dependencies outside of your control, which may present challenges in terms of long-term maintenance and potential update or deprecation issues.
  • Specific Use Case Tailoring
    While it offers a lot of features, developers may find that very specific use cases require additional effort to customize or extend the component beyond its intended use.

Analysis of MiddleDrag

Overall verdict

  • I don't have verified information about MiddleDrag (middledrag.app) since it appears to be a niche or lesser-known application that isn't well-documented in my training data. I can't confirm its features, reliability, or user satisfaction with confidence.

Why this product is good

  • Unable to verify specific features or capabilities of this product
  • No confirmed user reviews or ratings available in my knowledge base
  • Cannot confirm pricing, security practices, or company legitimacy

Recommended for

  • Users should visit the official website directly and check recent reviews
  • Consider checking app stores, Reddit, or Trustpilot for real user feedback
  • Verify the developer's reputation and read the privacy policy before use

Analysis of React Complex Tree

Overall verdict

  • React Complex Tree is a solid, headless React library for building tree-view UI components, offering strong accessibility support, drag-and-drop, multi-selection, and search out of the box, while giving developers full control over styling and rendering. It's a good choice for developers who need a robust, unstyled tree component without reinventing complex interaction logic.

Why this product is good

  • Headless design gives full control over styling and markup, making it easy to integrate with any design system or CSS framework
  • Built-in accessibility (ARIA-compliant, keyboard navigation) saves significant development time
  • Supports advanced features like drag-and-drop reordering, multi-selection, and renaming out of the box
  • Actively maintained with good documentation and TypeScript support
  • Flexible data model that supports both controlled and uncontrolled tree state management
  • Free and open-source with no licensing costs

Recommended for

  • Developers building file explorers, folder structures, or nested navigation menus
  • Teams that need a customizable tree component that matches their existing design system
  • Projects requiring accessible, keyboard-navigable tree interfaces
  • Applications needing drag-and-drop reordering of hierarchical data
  • TypeScript-based React projects seeking type-safe tree components
  • Developers who prefer headless UI libraries over pre-styled component kits

MiddleDrag videos

Demo

React Complex Tree videos

No React Complex Tree videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MiddleDrag and React Complex Tree)
Mouse Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing MiddleDrag and React Complex Tree.

What makes your product unique?

MiddleDrag's answer

MiddleDrag is the only free, open-source middle-click solution for Mac trackpads that works alongside Mission Control and other system gestures. Most alternatives either require disabling system gestures, cost money, or have been abandoned. MiddleDrag uses Apple's MultitouchSupport framework to intercept touch data before the system gesture recognizer, so three-finger gestures trigger middle-click while four-finger gestures still activate Mission Control. It's also a native menu bar app with GUI settings: no terminal configuration required.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

MiddleDrag's answer

MacBook users who need middle-click functionality without an external mouse. This includes 3D and CAD professionals using Blender, Fusion 360, FreeCAD, SketchUp, Maya, or OnShape who need to orbit and pan viewports. Designers working in Figma, Photoshop, or Illustrator who want to pan canvases. Developers who want to close tabs in VS Code or IDEs with a click. Browser power users who open links in new tabs frequently. Anyone frustrated that Apple trackpads lack a middle mouse button.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

MiddleDrag's answer

BetterTouchTool ($10-24) is powerful but overwhelming: hundreds of options when you just want middle-click. Middle ($8) charges for functionality that should be free and is closed-source. MagicPrefs stopped working years ago when Apple changed their APIs. MiddleClick requires terminal commands for configuration and has no GUI. MiddleDrag does one thing well: middle-click and middle-drag via three-finger gestures. It's free, open-source, actively maintained, and just works.

What's the story behind your product?

MiddleDrag's answer

I was using Blender and Fusion 360 on my MacBook and got tired of the workarounds for middle-click. You either buy an external mouse, pay for BetterTouchTool, or suffer. The free alternatives had either stopped working or required terminal configuration. It felt wrong that such basic functionality was paywalled or abandoned. So I built MiddleDrag: a native, open-source solution that does one thing well. The hardest part was getting it to coexist with Mission Control instead of fighting it, which required digging into Apple's private MultitouchSupport framework.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

MiddleDrag's answer

  • Swift 6
  • Apple's MultitouchSupport framework (private API for raw multitouch data)
  • CoreGraphics (CGEvent for synthetic mouse event generation)
  • Accessibility API (for event injection)
  • SwiftUI and AppKit (menu bar interface)
  • Sparkle (auto-updates)
  • Sentry (opt-in crash reporting)

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

MiddleDrag's answer

MiddleDrag is a free, open-source tool for individual users rather than enterprise customers. Its users include:

  • 3D artists and CAD engineers using Blender, Fusion 360, and FreeCAD
  • UX/UI designers working in Figma and Photoshop
  • Software developers navigating code in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs
  • Architecture students using SketchUp and Rhino
  • Browser power users who open dozens of tabs daily

User comments

Share your experience with using MiddleDrag and React Complex Tree. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, React Complex Tree seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MiddleDrag mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of MiddleDrag yet. Tracking of MiddleDrag recommendations started around Jan 2026.

React Complex Tree mentions (2)

  • I'm building react-complex-tree, an unopinionated tree component for react, and recently released a new version!
    You can find the source code for it at https://github.com/lukasbach/react-complex-tree, and documentation and examples at https://rct.lukasbach.com. Source: over 3 years ago
  • I made an Unopinionated Accessible Tree Component with Multi-Select and Drag-And-Drop
    More examples on the customizability, in-depth documentation and a typing API is available at the documentation homepage: https://rct.lukasbach.com/. Source: about 5 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing MiddleDrag and React Complex Tree, you can also consider the following products

BetterTouchTool - Nov 5, 2017 - BetterTouchTool is a great, feature packed app that allows you to configure many gestures for your Magic Mouse (1 & 2), Macbook Trackpad and Magic Trackpad (1 & 2) and also Mouse Gestures for normal mice.

Pagedraw - Beta release - Compile UI Mockups to React Code

Middleclick - Welcome to MiddleClick. The next generation application launcher from CodeLogic Software.

MiddleClickApp - MiddleClick is a free app with the only purpose of enable the middle click with magic mouse. Download link: https://dericeira.github.io/middleclick/